That dog-eared and grease be-smudged Haynes Manual you rely on when working on your classic car now may be available online -- accessible on a smart phone, tablet or laptop -- and with its well-respected and extensively illustrated text also is supplemented by color photography and how-to videos.

Haynes Publishing is offering its 50 best-selling manuals in electronic format, and others should follow soon.

"It's a natural evolution for the Haynes brand to offer digital content with enhanced options such as video, audio, all-color photos as well as color wiring diagrams," said Haynes Group chief executive Eric Oakley.

"Being able to watch and pause a video from under the hood of your car allows for the elimination of mistakes and provides a clear-cut understanding of the task at hand. Now, instead of conducting a web search and hoping you find a valid fix for your problem, Haynes Manuals Online users can simply log on from anywhere and be walked through a precise repair on the spot."

Haynes has been publishing Haynes and Chilton brand repair manuals for 50 years and has produced more than 500 titles. Haynes Manuals Online are available through www.Haynes.com.

Pebble Beach announces featured categories for 2012

Think your classic car is among the best of its breed? The Pebble Beach concours d'elegance is accepting entry applications until January 27 f0r its 62nd annual gathering next August 19.

Featured classes for 2012 include cars formerly owned by Maharajas of India and southern Asia, vehicles (including racing cars) by Mercer and Fiat, as well as cars with coachwork by Saoutchik, AC and AC Cobras, one-off American "sport customs" from the 1930s, ‘40s and ‘50s, and German motorcycles.

A list of additional classes is available at www.pebblebeachconcours.net/pages/3008.

Seminar to examine the classic car hobby

Auction house Russo and Steele has announced the lineup for its annual Arizona auction week seminar, which on January 20 will examine The Classic Car Hobby: The Past, The Present, and The Future.

The auction will include more than 400 classic motorcycles. Featured will be an 1894 Roper steam-powered motorcycle, which Auctions America by RM says could set a world record for a bike sold at auction.

The bike is the second of the two steam-powered motorcycles built by Sylvester Roper of Roxbury, Massachusetts. The other one is on long-term display at the Smithsonian Institution.

Based on the frame of a Columbia bicycle, the bike has a compact and rectangular boiler, burner and grate with a small steam engine on the right side. A water tank is located directly over the boiler, from which a smoke vent exited at a rakish angle. All controls were located on the handlebars. In keeping with the true definition of a motorcycle, the Roper was completed without pedals.

Regularly used by Roper, it averaged a record speed of 40 miles per hour on the Dorchester Road in Boston for a measured mile in May 1896.

Following Roper's death in 1896, this historic motorcycle was sold by one of his heirs to a Long Island museum. It made its way through several museums, then into two private collections. It recently was featured at the Motorcycle Hall of Fame in Pickerington, Ohio, where it helped celebrate the induction of Sylvester Hayward Roper, America's first motorcyclist.

Simeon museum gains international honor

The Simeone Foundation Automotive Museum in Philadelphia – which houses a collection of 65 rare and significant racing sports cars – has been selected by the International Historic Motoring Awards as "Museum of the Year."

The other museums considered were the National Motor Museum of England and the Jaguar Heritage Museum, the Peterson Museum in Los Angeles, and the Auto Museum Prototyp in Germany.

Mecum offers 750 cars at Kansas City

Mecum Auctions stages its 2011 "grand finale" event December 1-3 at the Kansas City Convention Center's Bartle Hall, where 750 vehicles will cross the block.

Included is the Larry Pfaff Collection, an eclectic mix of 30 vehicles spanning nearly 100 years of automotive history – from a 1914 Ford Model T to a 2005 Ford Mustang GT – that will be offered at no reserve -- as well as the only 1969 Pontiac Trans Am Ram Air III built with a red interior.

Ferrari designer Scaglietti dies

Still a teenager, Sergio Scaglietti, his older brother and a friend established an auto repair garage across the street from Enzo Ferrari's race car shop. Ferrari became a significant customer, hiring the Scagliettis to make repairs to Ferrari cars that had sustained damage while racing.

Sergio Scaglietti became known as the "maestro of aluminum." With Ferrari focused on his car's engines, he soon turned to Scaglietti to create all the bodywork for many of his cars, including the famed 250 Testa Rossa, 500 Mondial and 750 Monza.

Scaglietti's work was so significant to Ferrari's success and history that in 2004, Ferrari launched a new model called the 612 Scaglietti

Sergio Scaglietti, who remained a close friend of Ferrari's until the automaker's death, died November 20. He was 91 years old.